Book Thing

Go me! I finished a book! I've been working on this puppy for a while. I really enjoyed our visit to Pompeii on our honeymoon (over a decade ago, good lord, how did I get so old?) so I thought I might enjoying reading a book about daily life pre-eruption.

I did enjoy the first half of the book quite a bit. But the second half kind of dragged. That might have been me more than the book though because for some reason the topic of art can bore me like nobody's business. Once I hit the "art in Pompeii" chapter, I think I checked out and never really fully came back to it. Probably because the art chapter was followed by the politics chapter. Even more fun! (No. Not fun.)

But still, there were neat bits in it and I did learn things, which is always good. My biggest takeaway? Archeologists make things up. A lot. Second biggest? They ate mice. Little bitty, big-eyed mice. Apparently this is a well-known thing but I did not know this thing. Now I do. I consider myself a fairly adventurous eater (or at least I used to be when eating was more friendly to me) but I'm not entirely sure how I feel about eating mice.

Speaking of eating things, have you heard of the new "alternative" protein source that is apparently gaining headway? Crickets. No, really. Crickets.

I have not tried cricket anything (yet?). I'm honestly not sure I'm brave enough. Crickets kind of creep me out (I blame this on a massive cricket infestation the summer I worked at the mall. Crickets everywhere. You could not walk without constant, loud crunching. It gives me the chills just thinking about it now.) and this creep-factor apparently transfers to food made from crickets. I think it would be easier for me to sample cooked mouse than cooked (or ground) cricket.

I'm So Ridiculous

While Dan & I were on vacation last month, Emmett managed to break two of my tea mugs. (I have video evidence that proves it was him. I'm just not blaming him because he's the biggest troublemaker. Proof!) Specifically, the two I used almost every day. In a fit of ridiculousness, I went and designed myself a new yarn-related tea mug as a replacement.

I'm using it today and it is delightful! Appropriately enough, I am using it while I knit some socks!

I Guess They Work On Commission

Remember back in November when I gushed about my huge new pot? Well, we just got this in the mail.

Le Creuset sent us a handwritten "keep a good relationship with your customers" note four months after our purchase. I mean, I've had car dealers do that (our last dealership sent us cookies) but kitchenware?

Seriously, I'm not really sure what to think about that. It's a pot! (And okay, I love it and I want to go back to buy a small saucepan, but that's not the point!) It's a pot!

Thanksgiving Means...

It's time to decorate for Christmas!

Of course, not everyone can wait until after Thanksgiving. We saw this guy last weekend; apparently he wanted to get a jump on his Christmas decorating.

Visitor

I had almost forgotten since it's been kind of busy lately, but last week I ran in to an interesting visitor: a walking stick.

Pretty wacky little thing, isn't it? He was remarkably patient with my picture taking, though at one point when I got a little close, I'm pretty sure he waved his little antenna in warning that he was going to eat me.

It's No Gidgie Moth, But...

More weird nature at our house today! This time it was a Pandora Sphinx Moth.

We figure this is a female as they are supposed to be the larger of the two sexes for this moth and this one is quite large. All spread out it would probably have a 4-5" wingspan. Yeah. BIG.

It apparently decided that the back wall of our porch was a good place to sleep today away. Once dusk comes, I doubt it will hang around any longer, but I'm quite glad that it decided to stop by. It strikes me as the type of wild looking moth we'd only come across in a zoo (though apparently these moths are quite common, just not so much in this area.) And if it had been in actual nature, Dan questions if we ever would have seen it. If it had been sleeping in a tree, I think it would have been very hard to spot.

The Mind Boggles

Yep, It's Turning Purple

We Mowed

What? Is This Summer?

We've had almost two inches of rain in the past three days. It's raining right now and rain is forecast for the rest of the week. I mean, it's good because everyone needs the rain but we just don't have rainy weeks like this. At least each day it has rained there has been a long break where the sun came out and tanning was possible, but still. This is weird.

ETA: Correction: After today's rain, we have now had over three inches in the last three days. Wild!

I Almost Forgot

My parents came over Sunday and we all ended up in the pool. While we were hanging out there, we got an unexpected visitor.

Not the best pictures in the world, but they were taken with my phone. I don't think I'm brave enough to carry my real camera into the pool. (Dan was nervous enough about the phone!)

Who is that Masked Man?

Brought to You by the Color Yellow

In Bloom

More wildflowers are popping up in our yard. It's getting quite colorful. (Click through to Flickr to see it larger.)

The purple is vervain, the yellow is mostly thelesperma, the red is indian blanket, all with some Englemann's daisy, bastard cabbage, nodding thistle, frilled puccoon, Englemann's salvia and other goodies mixed in.

Not Color Adjusted

Last night was very cold. And yet Dan and I were outside for a good while last night, watching the eclipse. Of course the eclipse coincided with a major dip in the weather. It might have been 82° the day before, but last night was 42°. Cold. But pretty.

I can see why they call it the blood moon.

In slightly other news, while we were out there watching the eclipse, we also saw Mars (it was orange!), Jupiter, and Saturn. While Mars and Jupiter were visible even during the full moon, Saturn didn't show up until the moon was mostly covered. When we first went outside, the moon was so bright barely any stars could be seen - just the super-bright ones. But once the eclipse started, tons of stars (and a planet!) showed up.

Cold, but enjoyable!

Oh Goodie

Patients with celiac disease have an increased mortality rate that exceeds that of the general population....The overall risk for malignancy for specific cancers in people with celiac disease has been reported at anywhere from nine to thirty-four times greater than that of the general population.

Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic by Peter H.R. Green, M.D. & Rory Jones

On the plus side, those with celiac disease have a lower instance of breast cancer. Yay?

Ugh

Rock saws are loud.

That is all.

Spring? Is that you?

One of yesterday's visitors.

Needless to say, the kitties are enjoying the birds around here. (Yesterday, we had a handful of bluebirds (including the Mr. Man up there) as well as some brave Cardinals that were checking out the (now empty) porch. There was much kitty chattering. And blind clanking.)

I Might Have a Problem

Out of curiosity, tonight I figured out how much yarn I have. And the answer?

28.1 miles.

I'm not sure if that's good or bad. 28 miles. I mean, that's more than a marathon's worth of yarn. But it's actually on the low end for a lot of what I've seen on Ravelry. (I've seen as little as 5 miles and as many as 120 miles but around 60 seems normal.) But yeah. More than a marathon.

Ridiculous Dinner

The past month has been so crazy thanks to moving and related miscellaneous. Dan and I have eaten way too much fast food. I mean, when we are out and about at night, having to make an hour and half round trip to the old house for whatever reason, we've gone for a quick dinner rather than a good one. But as time passes and we get stuff done, we've been able to eat more at home than on the road, something for which we are both thankful.

A lot of my cooking lately has been trying to get rid of some older stuff in the freezer. Partially to cycle through stuff but also because Dan and I are splitting a cow with my parents. Yes. A whole cow. We need the freezer room. Tonight, for example, I roasted a couple of wild pig legs. And since it was easier to eat it off the bone than carve the thing, this was what our plates looked like.

I honestly didn't know how it would turn out, but it was quite tasty. (I rubbed the pork with olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and cayenne then put it on a bed of onion, carrot and potatoes with a little beef broth and cooked it at 325°F until it was done.) But mostly I decided to share because... it's a pork leg. On a plate. It makes me laugh.